Hrithik Roshan launches sendmygift.com in Bengaluru

Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan is thrilled and is looking forward to pick a gift for his mother on the occasion of her upcoming birthday.

More so after having officially launched the online gifting portal sendmygift.com (SMG) at an event in Bengaluru earlier this month. The e-commerce marketplace has been designed by the TGS Group to help people select and deliver apt gifts for their loved ones.

Speaking during the launch event, Hrithik says, I am very proactive in my mind about being enabled and give opportunities and platform for people to grow. We have a lot of talent and it needs to be nurtured. So, if I find something that I believe in I would invest my efforts and money in. The online gift portal is the brainchild of Mandeep Kaur, chairman and managing director. India is the country of festivals and emotions. And celebrations are incomplete without gifting. Therefore, the brand has decided to launch the portal, Mandeep says.

Adding to this, co-founder Chinta Shyamsundar says, The projected gifting market in India is estimated at $20-30 billion by 2020. The income level, spending level and aspiration level of people have risen tremendously over the past decade, but there is a big gap between demand and supply in the gifting industry. This new portal plans to bridge this gap.

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Online Lingerie Retailer Zivame Pivots To Private Label Business

Bengaluru-based online lingerie retailer Zivame has pivoted to a private label business in a bid to improve its margins and thereby boost its revenues.

Zivame was founded in 2011 by Richa Kar as an aggregator of lingerie brands. As per a note on the company’s website, Zivame has rebranded its three private labels — Penny, Cou Cou, and Rosaline into Zivame.

The move comes at a time when Zivame is concentrating on its offline expansion. The company had set up offline experience stores in three cities and had plans to scale up to 50 such customer touch points by next year, Kar had told ET in July.

Zivame has so far raised about $50 Mn from investors including Unilazer Ventures, IDG Ventures India, Kalaari Capital, Ratan Tata, Zodius Technology Fund, and Khazanah Nasional Bhd. In September last year, Zivame raised $38 Mn (INR 250 Cr) Series C round.

According to Research and Markets, the online lingerie market in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 42.32% from 2014-2019. The lingerie retail market in India is estimated to be around $2.26Bn (INR 15,000 Cr).

In June 2016, Mumbai-based online lingerie platform Prettysecrets, raised $6 Mn (INR 40 Crore) from RB investments and Orios Venture Partners.

Other players dealing exclusively in the online lingerie space include Clovia, Cilory, Shyaway, and Buttercups.

This development was reported by ET.

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Cult Fashion Store Browns Just Opened A New Space In East London

Over the past decade, Shoreditch has been transformed into a creative hub and more recently, a must-visit shopping destination with the boom of independent fashion stores around Shoreditch High Street, Redchurch Street and Calvert Avenue. This week, it became even more desirable for style aficionados and shopping enthusiasts as cult luxury fashion mecca Browns opened the doors to Browns East, its first bricks and mortar store to open for 20 years. Located on the corner of Club Row, the shiny new two-storey space, housed in a former print factory, complements the flagship store on South Molton Street, first established in the heart of London’s Mayfair in 1970.


Offering a completely fresh concept for its customers, Browns East is an augmented retail environment, which will be constantly changing and flexible. What does that actually mean? I hear you ask. Well, the entrance, an area in its own right, will regularly be handed over to independent creatives to build an immersive space, allowing Browns to further support and champion fresh talent in an authentic way. The inside space will also include the first incarnation of the Nomad project, Browns' take on semi-permanent, roaming retail concepts as a 21st-century response to the pop-up store model.

Holli Rogers, CEO of Browns explains: Browns has a strong heritage in innovation; from the time we first opened our doors in 1970, Browns has showcased pioneering designers. We’ve blended our love of fashion with incredible in store experiences and we’ve always ensured that we change and evolve with our customers. The store will have new elements that are tied to emotion and identity – it’s truly a sensory experience. The moment you walk in you will feel something – through the people, the product, the design, the areas within the space, and the events that will take place. Coupled with this, we are innovating with technology which will make the shopping experience in Browns more personal and convenient for our customers. The vibrancy of East London is great – it’s a neighbourhood of immense creativity and boldness. Opening a store here is an exciting move with a new view on what retail looks like.

The clothes and accessories will be presented in a gender-neutral retail space, where barriers between menswear and womenswear don’t exist. Offering a regularly rotating edit of the best in luxury fashion, across ready-to-wear, footwear, bags and fine jewellery, Browns East launches with 45 brands, including some of our favourites such as Rejina Pyo, Jacquemus, Gucci and Sies Marjan.

And when you need a moment's respite after perusing the rails there's a café with a marble-clad bar, stocked for launch by Fatties Bakery, where you can pick up a shiny cornflake bocadito or salted caramel brownie and turmeric latte.


Browns East also has impressive eco credentials; floorboards originally laid at the BBC have been carefully preserved and used in the ground floor space, while striking fixtures and furniture have been crafted from 100% recycled plastics.

The staircase-meets-gallery is home to a curated selection of multimedia artwork with launch artists including Polly Morgan, Juno Calypso and Lauren Baker, and all pieces are available for purchase at a range of price points.

As the closing date of iconic concept store Colette looms (December 20th if you want to book an express shopping trip to Paris), the opening of another branch of Browns is exactly the kind of exciting fashion news

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Joyce Banda News: How To Model Runway Modeling Tips

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CEO Alex Baldock Quits Shop Direct As Digital Transformations

CEO Alex Baldock Quits Shop Direct As Digital Transformations

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Ambulance Firm Stanplus Raises 1M Dollar From Insead Angels Asia Kalaari Capital

StanPlus, a Hyderabad-based medical transportation start-up, said on Thursday it has raised $1.1 million in seed funding for a minority stake. The funds will help it scale up operations.

The latest round of investment was led by Kstart (Kalaari Capital’s seed fund), with participation from CM Diamant, a chain of medical centres and hospitals in Canada and Africa, and INSEAD Angels (Asia). Read More On 499rupees

Prabhdeep Singh, co-founder and CEO of StanPlus, said: “The amount invested will be used to increase our advance-life support fleet and expand across geographies and to cover all medical transportation categories in the near future.”

Co-founder and COO Antoine Poirson said StanPlus receives about 60 calls a day. It has a fleet of 300 ambulances, 60 ambulance operators and 15 hospitals accounting for 2,000 beds that exclusively use its ambulance network.

“StanPlus’s approach to medical transportation is enterprising,” said Muthiah Venkateswaran, Partner at Kstart, a seed fund initiative of venture capital firm Kalaari Capital.

StanPlus was founded in 2016 by three INSEAD MBA graduates — Singh, Poirson and Jose Leon — with an aim to build India’s largest ambulance network.

With a promise to serve requests within 15 minutes of booking, StanPlus is currently spread across eight cities including Hyderabad.

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National Chain Store Home Bargains Plans To Take Over Empty Aberystwyth Store

A National chain store is planning to open a shop in Aberystwyth by taking over the former Budgens store on the Ystwyth Retail Park.

Home Bargains, which sells a range of items including food, furniture and entertainment and electronic items, has lodged a planning application for permission for signage at the currently vacant store.

The news that an empty store in one of Aberystwyth’s most popular retail parks could soon be filled has been welcomed by Aberystwyth mayor Steve Davies.

He said: “It is a positive sign when national chains are happy to open in Aberystwyth. This retail area now has some well-known household names. Read More

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